The Walk

Di Tou nodded and was ushered along by Laozhi as he tried his best to rein in his tears as they walked.

"I'm okay now."

"Hmm…"

"I'm really okay now. I normally don't cry that much."

Laozhi gave him a sidelong glance that read, "I believe you. I also believe that the sky is purple."

"I… I…" Di Tou sighed, giving up on trying to explain himself.

"I really am sorry about the dress. I woke up here without knowing. At first I even thought I was just dreaming, but when I opened my eyes again and was still here and realized I was starving, I really didn't know what to do."

Laozhi looked at Di Tou and gave him an appraising glance.

"Aiya. Now that Laozhi takes a closer look at you I can tell that you're just a mortal. You shouldn't have been able to make it into this place on your own so I'll believe you for now."

Sighing, Laozhi continued, "But isn't it too much to start crying at your age? At this point in your life you should have gone through many trials already. Let's not even talk about love and hatred, at the very least you should have seen your grandparents, parents, and some friends pass away by now? Hai, you should have some backbone, what sort of man are you if you break into tears every time any sort of adversity comes across you. You don't look like you're some rich old fart from one of the cities…"

As Laozhi continued to blabber on, Di Tou could only respond by nodding like a baby chick pecking at feed, quietly letting the old man lecture him about the vicissitudes of life that he should have experienced by now. In his heart he really wanted to yell out, "I'm only 20, ah!" But who would believe him! It was already very kind of this Laozhi to forgive him after he had invaded his home, tried to eat his food, and burned his dress, he didn't want to get a crazy label thrown on top of him now!

Laozhi's chattering was finally interrupted by a gurgle from Di Tou's stomach. After all, Laozhi had found him while he was still waiting for the rice to cook, so Di Tou was still quite hungry.

Laozhi gave Di Tou another sidelong glance, before pulling out two steamed buns out of nowhere and handing them to Di Tou.

Di Tou, taking the buns, was too surprised to eat. The buns were still warm, where had this old man pulled them out from? While he was wearing a long-sleeved robe, it didn't look like he had grabbed the buns from inside his sleeves, so where did they come from! Don't tell him, he was really in some sort of cultivation world!?

Di Tou started to ask, "How… Where did you get these buns?"

Laozhi gave him a derisive look. "Hmm, looks like you really are a bumpkin, you've never even seen spatial storage before. It's not important, you should start eating first."

"Oh. Okay. My name is Di Tou by the way."

"Di Tou? What sort of name is that? Is your family insane? No wonder you're such a coward. With a name like that-" Laozhi continued on in his blabbering.

Di Tou continued nodding along, but this time it was a much more comical scene, as he his cheeks were bulging from the bun he was eating. Thinking about it actually, it was quite comical the first time around too, as it was two old men walking along the dirt path, one lecturing the other as if he was seven year old whelp who needed an earful, and the other nodding along as if he was a good kid who wanted praise! Now it looked as if this second seven-year-old acting old man was bribed off by food to keep his silence.

"Anyways, a good name should be like mine, Mu Di Bai. Di as in the earth, Bai as in pure and white. Just listening to my name you can hear the aspirations of keeping the world clean and pure."

"Di Tou… Che! Did your parents enjoy being country bumpkins that much?"

By this time Di Tou had started on the second bun.

"Well, Di Tou, we're almost out of the formation, what village are you from anyways? I'll send you home and as for the debt you owe me... hiash, let's just consider this debt written off."